Ball lightning produced in lab?

[Ivan Seeking]

Great balls of lightning
9 February 2006

If you have ever seen a mysterious ball of lightning chasing a cow or flying through your window during a thunderstorm, take comfort from the fact that you have witnessed a very rare phenomenon. Indeed, ball lightning -- a slow-moving ball of light that is occasionally seen at ground level during storms -- has puzzled scientists for centuries. Now, however, researchers in Israel have built a system that can create lightning balls in the lab. The work may not only help us to understand ball lightning but could even lead to practical applications that make use of these artificial balls (Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 045002).[continued]

http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/10/2/6/1

 

[arildno]

This is fantastic!
Reproducibility of a phenomenon is in my opinion an essential premise for understanding it; perhaps we'll finally be able to understand the ball lightning.

 

[inha]

If you have access check the PRL paper. Neat stuff!